Lead-acid batteries, which are frequently found in cars, trucks, boats and other vehicles, typically include a set of plate electrodes that themselves include lead and lead oxide. These electrodes are usually encased in a battery housing and immersed in a sulfuric acid-based electrolyte.
While in operation, the above-mentioned chemical components of lead-acid batteries react with each other to form an amorphous lead sulfate. Then, when such batteries are being recharged, much of the amorphous lead sulfate is converted back into a combination of lead, lead oxide and sulfuric acid. However, over time, a more stable crystalline lead sulfate also forms within a battery. Because this crystalline lead sulfate is not a strong conductor of electricity, when too much crystalline lead sulfate has formed, the battery becomes non-functional. This degradation process is referred to as “sulfation” and accelerates in batteries that are operated at higher temperatures.
In many instances, rather than replacing a heavily sulfated battery, it is more desirable to recover at least some of the functionality of the battery by removing some of the crystalline lead sulfate that has formed therein. In order to accomplish this removal of crystalline lead sulfate, battery chargers capable of providing sufficient voltages and currents to at least partially reverse the sulfation process are used. However, the battery chargers currently available to reverse the sulfation process make use of transformers that are heavy (i.e., that often weigh 100 pounds or more) and that generate a large amount of heat.
In addition to being heavy and generating a large amount of heat, the above-discussed transformers also do not have power factors of between 0.95 and 1.0. Hence, battery chargers including such transformers do not meet European standards and therefore cannot obtain Conformité Européene (CE) markings. Further, because the above-mentioned transformers are effectively hard-wired to operate at a particular voltage, currently available battery chargers capable of at least partially reversing the sulfation process cannot be operated both at locations solely providing voltage levels of 120V and at locations solely providing voltage levels of 220V. Rather, two different battery chargers would have to be purchased.